I was seriously about to buy a pair of mk2's but I am going to hold off now. Super excited to see that Olympus is finally going to make true "pro" camera with built in vertical grip. That is one thing I have wished for since the introduction of the EM1 and my move to m4/3. I so miss having a camera with built in grip and have always hated the add-on grips, especially with the Olympus design of having to remove the grip to replace the battery.

Edit - I am also hoping that since this camera is going after the sport shooters that they will go back to the flippy screen over that stupid ass swivel screen on the mk2.

I have no problems with Olympus making this camera, although I almost certainly won't buy it. What surprises me is the lack of development for the Pen F and EM5 ii. At least in Olympus' thinking, there is little profit to be made from the upgrade of these cameras that they are willing to make. What I mean is that they may be able to stuff the EM1 ii feature set in the EM5iii but they can't sell it for enough money to be profitable from their POV. From my POV, however, a new EM5 III might be something that would tempt me. I will be really curious to see what kind of market there is for this new camera. I would have said very little, but to be realistic I'm just theorizing whereas I presume Olympus has done some market research.

Are all the new cameras going to cost £5000 with a lens. I unretired to earn some money, but I shall not spend it on any of these newly announced cameras. It is not the cost, but the size and weight involved.

I bought a used A7 and the Rokinon 50 1.4. I am simply appalled by the size of that lens. I can honestly say that if that is the size/weight price of FF then I think Fuji and Olympus will survive. Or, more to the point, I think Oly's real competitor is Fuji.

I think that a design change like this is intended to signal that if you aren't philosophically in the market for a $5000+ camera, this camera is not for you.

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I feel like if you are in the market for a $5,000 camera, this camera won't be for you either.

It seems to me like Olympus needs to be figuring out how to take advantage of the fact that m4/3 systems are smaller than other systems, rather than trying to imitate larger systems. Here's what I want: a Pen-F that lets me take jpeg+RAW and has an Android implementation that lets me do things like auto-upload my jpegs to Google Photos and lets me share on Instagram.

In other words, I want an m4/3 camera with some of the cool software features that cell phones have, rather than trying to match the hardware features of larger cameras. As an added bonus, adding those cool software features should be possible even on lower end models that don't cost $5,000.

I feel like if you are in the market for a $5,000 camera, this camera won't be for you either.

It seems to me like Olympus needs to be figuring out how to take advantage of the fact that m4/3 systems are smaller than other systems, rather than trying to imitate larger systems. Here's what I want: a Pen-F that lets me take jpeg+RAW and has an Android implementation that lets me do things like auto-upload my jpegs to Google Photos and lets me share on Instagram.

In other words, I want an m4/3 camera with some of the cool software features that cell phones have, rather than trying to match the hardware features of larger cameras. As an added bonus, adding those cool software features should be possible even on lower end models that don't cost $5,000.

I feel like if you are in the market for a $5,000 camera, this camera won't be for you either.

It seems to me like Olympus needs to be figuring out how to take advantage of the fact that m4/3 systems are smaller than other systems, rather than trying to imitate larger systems. Here's what I want: a Pen-F that lets me take jpeg+RAW and has an Android implementation that lets me do things like auto-upload my jpegs to Google Photos and lets me share on Instagram.

In other words, I want an m4/3 camera with some of the cool software features that cell phones have, rather than trying to match the hardware features of larger cameras. As an added bonus, adding those cool software features should be possible even on lower end models that don't cost $5,000.

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IMHO, they should try this with an EM10 model as a base. A camera that BT connects right to your smartphone automatically. It doesn't necessarily transfer the image to the phone but will use the phone to mail the image, using the phone as a hot spot. These features might be very attractive to first time users of a "better camera".

I think Olympus can still market "big" cameras while playing the size card given the telephoto crop factor. If they make cameras that can AF like a 1DX while offering the 2x super-tele crop advantage, then it will be very attractive to a certain pro/semi-pro segment.

That said, the D500 already sort of offers a lot of that - especially with the new compact super-tele lenses from Nikon. They need to keep that in mind as the camera to beat and they need to keep their equivalent lens sizes smaller than Nikon APS-C.

This one must be for me... I shoot my E-M1II with a grip with my big (adapted) lenses but I wouldn't mind seeing a true "single digit" Olympus with all the bells and whistles beyond the E-M1II as long as they keep refreshing all the other bodies in the lineup like releasing an E-M5III that's like a mini E-M1II already or a PEN-F II with E-M1II internals.

Hopefully an integrated grip is more "volume efficient" and means that the battery packing is better, leading to either a slightly smaller camera or a much more powerful camera.

The only thing I read in that rumor was that it will have a vertical grip. No info about size, weight or price.

So I don't understand a lot of the comments here.

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Olympus is purposely leaking information like this, and 'it beats X-T3', without information in details.
It's their hype campaign, costing less because they don't need to produce fancy videos like Nikon did.
All they need is to invite these 'rumor writers' and don't commit NDA.

Luke's right. Nothing solid to go off of but an integrated vertical grip.

If the rumor is correct in its assumption that this camera will be aimed at sports and wildlife, then I wonder what sort of upgrades it will have? Perhaps another C-AF boost and a A9-level EVF (both very welcome)? At this point, the E-M1 MkII is already so capable on so many levels, that what I really hope we see is a significant boost to sensor IQ and computational photography. Until we get some solid info, however, assuming anything could cause unwarranted expectations that might not be met. This may not be a sports and wildlife specialist per se, and rather it will improve in all fronts -- just as the E-M1 MkII did to the E-M1.

I don't mind a vertical grip for ergonomic purposes, but I always put an RRS plate on my cameras for easy tripod mounting, so I stopped buying the battery grips.

IMO, the biggest issue that this camera faces when compared to the "single digit" DSLRs is the ISO performance. The 1DX II and D5 are high-ISO machines. They were built to be shot at ISO 3200 & up, and the files they generate at those ISOs are unbelievably clean. No matter what Olympus does (short of 8-image in-camera stacking, which probably won't work well for sports shooting), nothing can account for that.

A Nikon D5 has the equivalent pixel density of a 5.5 MP m43 camera. Those huge pixels allow for an incredibly clean SNR, resulting in extremely low noise even at high ISO.

I don't doubt that Olympus can make a camera that focuses just as well as a D5. The big issue is noise performance and image quality when shooting in conditions where the D5 is typically used. Shitty indoor gymnasium lighting, Friday night lights lighting, Shooting wildlife at dusk lighting. Those are the conditions in which single-digit DSLRs shine, and there is no way that a 20MP m43 sensor can compete against those cameras in those conditions.

In good light, I'm sure the E-M1X will do a great job. But then so will a D500, which is a beast for shooting sports and wildlife in the majority of lighting conditions.

I appreciate and respect Olympus' efforts to say "we can do this too", but I think they're really facing an uphill battle if they plan to go against the 1DX II and D5...

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